Two Indonesian migrants die as overloaded boat capsizes

Indonesia

Catholic woman among victims on wooden fishing boat carrying 90 undocumented workers to Malaysia

At least two Indonesian migrant workers including a Catholic woman died after a wooden boat capsized and sank in the waters of Tanjung Api in the Strait of Malacca in Asahan district of North Sumatra province.

The deceased workers were identified by authorities as Catholic woman Anastasia Ponis, 43, from East Nusa Tenggara province, and Basman, 53, a Muslim man from South Sulawesi province.

Ady Pandawa, commander of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said the wooden fishing boat was carrying 90 people including four crew members and 86 undocumented workers.

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“The boat was filled to overcapacity. All except the two deceased were saved by rescuers and the navy,” Pandawa said on March 20.

The four boat crew members were arrested by police and detained for further investigations. The two bodies and those rescued alive were transported to a local hospital and then to the National Search and Rescue Agency office in Tanjungbalai, Asahan district.

Pandawa said the rescued workers were from various regions across the country including East Nusa Tenggara, a predominantly Catholic province. They were victims of human trafficking being smuggled to Malaysia, he added.

“They are victims of a human trafficking mafia who are making the most of the opportunity as the government is focused on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic”

Pandawa said the boat is owned by a local fisherman and is used for daily fishing activities. It had left the Tanjungbalai coast on March 18 and was hit by waves and capsized on March 19.

Gabriel Goa Sola, director of the church-affiliated Advocacy Service for Justice and Peace in Indonesia (Padma), said there have been six incidents of boats sinking in the Strait of Malacca this year.

“Indonesia has a task force to handle undocumented workers but it is lacking in implementation and so such incidents happen and will continue to occur in future,” he told UCA News on March 21.

Besides, he said, a new memorandum of understanding on migrant workers between Indonesia and Malaysia hasn’t been signed yet, so many undocumented Indonesian workers continue to undertake risky sea journeys to Malaysia.

“They are victims of a human trafficking mafia who are making the most of the opportunity as the government is focused on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

Sola said the mafia target Indonesian workers because they can be smuggled easily to Malaysia with the promise of very low wages.

“The government shouldn’t only make policy but also educate people in the villages so that they adopt legal ways to work abroad,” he said.

In January, at least six undocumented migrant workers died after their boat capsized in the waters of Pisang island in Pontian Besar of Johor Bahru state in Malaysia.

In December last year, at least 21 undocumented Indonesian workers died after a boat carrying 50 people capsized off the coast of Malaysia.

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